Does the ESPN Book Already Have Its First Casualty?

The panic is palpable in Bristol over the forthcoming by ESPN book by Jim Miller and Tom Shales, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN. We hear the mood on the ESPN campus is like that of college football – just about everyone is dirty and has something to hide. We’re told those who aren’t getting phone calls from Miller are the most concerned.

The latest rumor we heard is that the book unearths so much damaging information about one anchor, ESPN has already decided to not renew his contract. Granted, this anchor has something of a checkered background in Bristol – he’s already been suspended once, and he’s been pilloried by blogs for alleged transgressions – but the book’s contents allegedly made it an easy decision for ESPN. We won’t name the anchor – yet – but we can say that he’s definitely not an “A-lister.”

In a brief phone call with Miller, he refused to talk about the book’s contents. An email this morning to ESPN went unreturned.